The author Donald J. Sobol first published his adventures of boy super sleuth “Encyclopedia” Brown in 1963. All 29 books in this popular series presented the reader with a set of short mysteries, each including factual disparities somewhere within. Young readers were encouraged to read the text closely to try to identify the “slip-up” that breaks the case and then turn to the “Answers” section in the back of the book to verify their finding.

An important part of writing in digital spaces is the use of “hyperlinks.” In their most basic form, a “link,” or hyperlink is word, phrase or image on a Web page that instructs a computer to move to another relevant Web page. Much like Sobol’s “Answers” section linked readers to the facts that solved each case, hyperlinked writing provides links that are pertinent to a piece of writing on the web and help to strengthen the writing by providing direct access back to source documents and related materials for the writer’s audience. Read the rest of this entry…

Transliteracy is a concept that captures the field of literacy and describes language arts as more than a function of  foundational skills, such as reading and writing, but also encompasses the ability to communicate across traditional and emerging platforms (Thomas, S. et. al., 2007). Simply put, transliteracy is the understanding of traditional literacy components alongside the nuances that living in a touchscreen world brings. Transliteracy puts aside the differences between traditional and emerging literacies to focus on the interconnected path of all literacies and the role they play in developing a literate member of society. Students need to become fluent, not only in their reading and writing practice, but also in the digital skills that are put to regular use in the world around them.

Reading and writing are at the core of transliteracy, as we interact with both traditional and digital print in our daily lives. Whether we are flipping through the pages of our favorite paperback or checking the weather on our smartphone, foundational reading skills (letter knowledge, sounds, and word reading) and meaning- based skills (comprehension, conceptual knowledge, and vocabulary) play an integral role. However, new skills, such as recognizing icons, setting up preferences, mastering multi-tap and swipe gestures, all play a pivotal role becoming a transliterate individual. Read the rest of this entry…

I was down in Columbus, Ohio this week to attend eTech Ohio‘s annual educational technology conference, OETC13. I was involved in a number of interesting sessions, but my one “official” conference presentation was a BYOT titled “Student-Created Multimedia eBooks on the iPad in Grades K-3.”

The Google Site I created as a resource can be found here. I included quite a bit of background information that covers the current research on ebooks for young children, types of ebooks, selecting ebooks and also evaluating ebooks. This content is Flash-based, so if you’re trying to review it on an iPad, you’re out of luck. Sorry! But trust me, it is good stuff, so find a desktop or laptop and go through it!

The BYOD activity for the session is here. Please feel free to borrow, steal, use or remix with your students or teachers. If you’re just looking for my app recommendations from the session, here are the FREE ones and the PAY ones. If you want to learn more about how the session went, read on…

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I watched the #oneweek unveil at this afternoon on Ustream. Turns out the team assembled at George Mason University built a WordPress plugin that allows you to create custom eBooks from your blog posts and/or external RSS feeds. Projects can be assembled through a drag-and-drop interface. Publish formats currently include ePub, PDF, TEI and RTF.

From the Anthologize blog,

Use the power of WordPress to transform online content into an electronic book.

Anthologize is a free, open-source, plugin that transforms WordPress 3.0 into a platform for publishing electronic texts. Grab posts from your WordPress blog, import feeds from external sites, or create new content directly within Anthologize. Then outline, order, and edit your work, crafting it into a single volume for export in several formats, including—in this release—PDF, ePUB, TEI.

Please note that Anthologize cannot be installed on blogs hosted at WordPress.com.

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From the “Will Richardson always makes me think file,” I found this quote from one of his latest Weblogg-ed posts, New Reading, New Writing, to really set the wheels in motion.

Is social reading and social writing in our kids’s futures? I don’t think there is much doubt about that. More and more I’m finding Diigo annotations and notes cropping up on the articles and essays that I read, and by and large I’ve found the commentors to be serious, thoughtful and articulate.

Much like Mr. Richardson points out, I’ve been finding Diigo annotations more and more myself since I started using the Diigo toolbar for Firefox. When I read that quote initially, it had me thinking about how Diigo might look in a classroom environment. I guess I was thinking more of a 1-on-1 environment. However, upon further reflection, I don’t think that would be the best way to integrate Diigo.

Why, you ask? To me, Diigo is a tool that you use during those quiet, reflective times. Alone to your work, Diigo is there to help you push that bright yellow highlighter across digital text, rather than the thin pages of a paperback. You don’t really use Diigo with a crowd. You use it during “me” time, when you’re in a reflective mood and capable to be attentive and think critically about what you are reading. For most students, I don’t think that type of “me” time happens very often during the 6-8 hours that they are cramped in a classroom desk with 30 other kids around them. So when and how would a student use Diigo?

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Last night on Twitter, Bud Hunt commented that Writing in the 21st Century by Kathleen Blake Yancey was a must read for educators. Since I’ve had that pdf on my desktop for a week or two now, I lamented back that my reason for not reading yet. My pathetic excuse back is outlined in our tweetversation below.

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